[53] Official

Kagami glares at the boy in front of her as she tucks him into bed, practically straight-jacketing him. He glares back at her with just as much hate while Kakashi watches with a smile on his face.

"Next time, Sasuke don't try to harm your teammate, and Kagami don't harm your teammate." Kagami rolls her eyes and steps away, walking her way out of the room with just as much hate for the boy as when she walked in.

Kagami doesn't even care when her brother doesn't follow her but instead closes the door after her. He's probably going to lecture Sasuke about his curse mark. Kagami could care less for the boy's wellbeing at this point. As for Naruto, she is a little disappointed, she had hope for him. Obviously she was incorrect to assume the boy would know better. She sighs and stretches her arms up, she has been sitting down all day and regrets not moving around more.

"Kagami," Kakashi appears next to his sister, his hand out holding his new book delicately.

She nods to him, telling him to continue.

"I understand you dislike your circumstances, but I need you to at least try and keep this team together, it needs it." Kakashi doesn't look up from his book while saying this, earning a cold gaze from his sister.

"It's not my job to keep Genin on track,"

"Technically you are a Genin, so you should be trying to keep your comrades safe."

"I think I can say, with what just happened, that I am not a comrade of those imbeciles." Kagami stares ahead, her eyes narrowing angrily as she mulls her brothers words over in her head, "and I don't believe I ever was."

"Kagami," Kakashi's voice lowers dangerously, his eyes flickering over to his sister. "You don't mean that."

"If I didn't mean it I wouldn't say it." The girl meets his gaze, her anger meeting his.

Kakashi just sighs and looks back to his book, not wanting to fight with the girl, especially with what just happened between Naruto and Sasuke not ten minutes ago. Kagami takes a sharp right down a side street, not wanting to wander around aimlessly with her brother as she does most days now. She weaves through the odd seller or buyer who are bargaining away from prying eyes.

She turns left at the end, making sure to avoid the street dwellers who find the need to make the streets dirtier than they need to be. Plus, with recent events, there are more than ever, homeless not having anywhere to go or just plainly refusing to see the Hokage so she can get them started with a job and home. Kagami scoffs as she dodges a lazy knife that has been tossed her way.

She ignores them and continues along, knowing how to make it to the training grounds from where she is. She speeds up as she notices Anbu following her route and Root members up ahead.

'I'm being cornered by both sides,' Kagami chuckles internally as she brushes against one, her shoulder hitting theirs a little harder than needed.

'You knew this would happen,' Yua disapproves of the girls handling with the situation.

'But I also know how it will end, if everything goes to plan, I will be back where I started, happily killing people as an unidentified Bingo killer.'

'If you say so.'

Kagami wanders off to the right, the road leading out to her old training ground. Most people don't use it because it is open for members of the public to watch as they walk past, but Kagami could care less, she's fast enough that they won't see her anyway. She reaches into her pouch and glances around quickly before pulling out her Anbu mask and sliding it on over her head.

She stares angrily at the dummy that stands in almost pristine condition at the centre of the over field. She narrows her eyes at it as she imagines it to be her brother. She hisses and attacks it, her katana swing towards it effortlessly. She slices and beats it aggressively, not really having much of an aim or stance to it, she just repeatedly hits the dummy over and over again until the head rolls off.

She smirks lightly at it, enjoying it, before she picks it up and places back atop the dummy, knowing she must do some actual training.

s.h.o.u.t.

Shikamaru stares at the girl, his eyebrows raised dangerously high as he watches her ruin a perfectly good training ground. He comes here regularly because it has limited shade and forces him to improve the range and lifetime of his shadows.

But it would seem he won't be doing that today.

He scratches the back of his head lazily as the girl starts beating up the poor dummy for the third time since he arrived.

"I don't see how that's going to help you." He makes his way forward, beelining towards the girl.

Kagami pays no mind to the boy, she just focuses on the dummy 'Sasuke' as she lets all her anger out on it. Shikamaru sighs and steps forward, putting his hand out to stop her hand, but instead, she just brings the hilt of her katana down on his fingers harshly, causing him to snap his hand back towards himself. She stops for a moment, noticing his pain.

"Sorry," she mumbles before going back to breaking her dummy.

The boy just stands beside her and waits for her to finish her killing. She lets out a little huff as the head pops off once again, rolling away. Shikamaru now notices the sweat dripping off the girl and her loud huffing.

"How long have you been here?" He leans into her field of vision, breaking her out of her trance.

She shrugs, "a few hours."

Shikamaru raises his eyebrows again, "a few hours of smacking a dummy has done quite the toll on you, huh? What a drag."

Kagami internally rolls her eyes and places her katana back onto her back, her arms too tired to continue. She takes her mask off and wipes a little sweat off the side of her face before turning to Shikamaru.

"I'll let you train."

The boy sighs dramatically, "it doesn't matter, I don't want to train anymore you troublesome woman."

Kagami's eyebrows crease, confusion obvious on her face, "why wouldn't you want to train? Is it because I am her-"

"Let's just go," Shikamaru grabs her hand and pulls her along towards the street.

The sun is going down and the stalls around the area have started turning their lights on, lighting up the street with colourful shades and dancing lights. Kagami tugs on the boys arm, still confused.

"Where are we going?"

"On a date."

"But we went out earlier today?" Kagami looks to the ground, her mind trying to fit the pieces together.

"Yeah, but we are going to go out together now, troublesome girl." Shikamaru continues to tug her along, looking for a specific stall.

"Before you called me a troublesome woman, now a troublesome girl, have I changed in your eyes during this time period?"

Shikamaru sighs and shakes his head. "No, that's just how I speak."

"Oh,"

"What were you expecting more?" He glances back at the girl, who just shakes her head in response.

He smiles lightly at her before looking ahead again and watching the stall signs. He pulls her down another street, stopping in front of a small one hidden between two larger stalls. He pushes away the hanging beads and heads in, Kagami following behind him.

"Two green teas." He says as they sit down at the counter.

Kagami has to hop up a little to reach the stool height. Shikamaru finds this quite cute but chooses to not say anything, he just smiles to himself and turns back to the menu on the wall. Kagami follows his gaze and stares at the wall with interest. Shikamaru doesn't say anything as he waits for Kagami to choose.

"Momiji Manju and ichigo Daifuku," Kagami mumbles out, once again making Shikamaru smile.

He nods to the lady who hands over their green tea.

"And dango, please." The lady nods politely to them before running off to the back of the stall.

"Why are we here?" Kagami looks over to Shikamaru.

The boy shrugs, "I wanted to go out with you."

Kagami nods before looking down at her hands.

"Shikamaru," she mumbles so only he can hear.

"Hm?" The boy replies as he brings his cup of tea to his lips.

"Do you trust me?"

The boy turns to her, "why wouldn't I?"

"I'm sure you've heard things around me, from my days in Root." Kagami continues to stare at her calloused hands.

"Sure, but I don't believe half of them." Shikamaru goes back to drinking his tea.

"Why?"

"Well, I know all of it is under orders. But it's highly improbable that you have four kids." He glances at her from the corner of his eye.

She looks up at him in shock, her eyes wide.

"They think I have kids?" She gazes off into the distances.

Shikamaru chuckles. "Exactly why I never believed them. If it makes you feel better I promise not to believe anything they say."

Kagami snaps out of it and looks at Shikamaru, her gaze emotionless for a second before a small smile brightens her face. She nods lightly to him, leaning her head against his shoulder as they are served their sweets. She grabs her place and sneaks one Daifuku into her mouth as Shikamaru grabs his dango.

He turns to her and sweat-drops when he sees her with her cheeks already full. He just turns back to his dango and picks up a stick, biting one off slowly. He glances around as he chews on it, his heart rate picking up.

"Kagami?"

The girl picks her head off his shoulder and nods to him, swallowing her mouth full of food.

"Want to be my girlfriend?"

They both freeze, everything going still around the. Kagami stares at the boy who slowly looks to the side at her. Her facial expression stays emotionless as he does. His heart drops suddenly, his dango suddenly not looking so appetising.

But, like always, Kagami is not predictable by her facial features.

She grabs his hand and nods to him, her face going bright red like it does in his presence often. The boy's entire body lightens. He smiles and looks back to his dango, eating the rest of the stick in one girl. Kagami leans back against his shoulder, sneaking some Momiji Manju into her mouth this time.

Shikamaru suddenly chokes on his food, obviously trying to eat too much at once. Kagami pulls her head up and pats his back with a heavy hand. He coughs loudly before swallowing the food.

"Idiot."

"Same old Kagami."

s.h.o.u.t.

Shikamaru waves goodbye to the girl as she steps into her house, making sure she doesn't get ambushed by her brother as she walks in the door. Once she closes the door and there is a moment of silence he continues on his way home, his hands behind his head and eyes in the stars. He smiles lightly, the quiet streets leading him home. He opens his front door and slips off his shoes.

"I'm home!" He calls out into the dark house, not expecting anyone to reply.

"Shikamaru! Where have you been?!" His mother flicks on the kitchen light, a spatula in hand. "Do you think just because you are a Chunin now you can just wander off?!"

Shikamaru sighs and shakes his head, "I didn't wander off mum, I was with Kagami."

The woman lowers her weapon, a smug smile coming onto her face.

"Oh really? Anything happen?"

"Mum," Shikamaru walks past her and to his bedroom door. "Stop asking about my girlfriend." He walks into his room and closes the door lightly, leaving his mother.

"Shikaku! Did you hear that? Girlfriend!"

"Calm down Yoshino."

"No!"

s.h.o.u.t.

question of the chapter:

what do you think is going to happen next?

~shadow